


The Spelunking Story (Untitled)

by threnodyjones



Series: Untitled Eroica Series [1]
Category: Eroica Yori Ai o Komete | From Eroica with Love
Genre: M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-04
Updated: 2012-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-28 22:36:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/312935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threnodyjones/pseuds/threnodyjones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Major and Eroica are trapped together during a cave-in</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Spelunking Story (Untitled)

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Masae for giving me a [working] title for this thing all those years ago. I mean, let's be real, it's been about 14 years now, it's now the title.

The Major looked around the cavern, shining his flashlight beam across the granite as he took in the layout of the cave. He walked further into the blackness, seeing from the corner of his eyes Eroica's movements, his own beam of light giving away his position. So engrossed he was in his systematic search that he never realized the slow rumbling that grew in intensity too quickly for a good reaction. He was only able to turn his head and light enough to see a billowing cloud of dust rolling towards him before he was knocked suddenly to the ground, and then the rushing roar of air and collapsing rock pounded his senses, the dust from the collapse choking his lungs and eyes.

He felt a heavy body on top of him, and furious at both himself and the cave, and even Eroica he began to twist and shove the other man off of him, shouting, "Get the fuck off of me, you pervert!" But before he even needed to react with furious indignation at Eroica's body touching his own, the Englishman was already off of him, moving away, taking little--no, no advantage of the Major's supine position. Instead he was already up, moving about in the darkness, thick coughs punctuating his breath.

A thin light flashed on for a moment, and Klaus was able to catch sight of Eroica pressing the little button on his earphone before the flashlight died again.

"Bonham? Bonham?" Eroica's voice was calm as he waited for a response, and Klaus heard the angry rattle of the flashlight, punctuated by a quiet, "Comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon." Somehow the Major didn't think Eroica was talking about the flashlight, a familiar feeling growing in the pit of his stomach, the inner sense that always told his adrenaline to start running through his veins. "Bonham!" A quiet but piercing screech sounded from Eroica's direction and the Major heard a hiss of pain and then the clatter of equipment on the ground. Footsteps approached him, and he sat up, groping and finding his flashlight. A blue-white beam of light focused on Eroica's shoulder.

"Do you have your earpiece, Major?"

"No," he responded irascibly, "it was knocked off of me when you knocked me down, idiot!" Eroica had stopped looking at him and moved out of the beam of light. The Major's temper flared brilliantly when he saw Eroica wasn't even paying attention anymore, instead looking at the wall of rocks now blocking most of the entrance. _Fuck_. Now they would have to dig their way out. He got up to inspect the wall himself. "God-fucking-dammit! Now we have to fucking wait for someone to come dig us ou--"

"SHUT UP!" Eroica's shout bounced off the close walls, proving just how small this cavern they were trapped in was. And it wasn't big. Eberbach stopped ranting immediately, the harsh command coming from the thief shocking him into silence, and the cave was filled with more soft coughs as Lord Gloria's lungs adjusted to the sudden intake of the dust that was hovering in the air. "Give me the light, and just shut up!" Not waiting for him to hand over the flashlight, Eroica grabbed it from lax fingers and moved away.

Klaus watched as the beam flittered this way and that, with no seeming pattern, moving quickly from one place to another, and then moving slowly over the walls, then moving again.

"What are you doing?" Eroica's only answer was a terse, "Stop moving" in a voice that brooked no insolence. Major Eberbach watched the as thief walked about the cave, at the height of his professionalism. He had never seen Eroica so serious before, even though they had been in more delicate situations than this.

"Stop breathing, Major." He couldn't be serious. Nevertheless, he did significantly quiet his breaths as Lord Gloria moved over to the rocks blocking their path, balancing precariously on a few to climb to the ceiling. The light shined parallel to the entrance, causing strange, jagged shadows to appear. The silence was deafening as Eroica's breath became just as silent as his own, and the man leaned his head of curls against the rocks he was perched upon.

Suddenly Eroica hopped down and shined the light on the ground, searching for what Klaus assumed was the earpiece he had thrown down earlier, and just as suddenly Klaus realized what Eroica had been doing, cursed himself for not realizing it earlier, right away, in fact. "There's no air current, is there." It wasn't even a question. They were beyond that point.

"No," Eroica said tightly as he crouched over the piece of electronics, handling it carefully as he turned it over in his palm. The Major watched as Eroica threw his head back, eyes closed tightly, his blond curls falling down his back and disappearing into the thick darkness. "How much do you know about electronics, Major?" Klaus walked over and took the proffered earpiece, crouching down as well to put it into the light.

It was heavily dented on one side, scraped and marred on the other. Klaus turned it over in his hand, much as the Earl had done. He picked at the groove in the listening piece, only to have it spit a spark at him and fizzle out, dead. Eroica rose with a small huff, and scanned the ground with the light. "Do you know when you lost your microphone?"

"Right when you knocked me down." Eroica was looking at the rubble blocking the entrance, shining the light. "We should start digging ourselves out, rather than waiting for the air to run out." The light reflecting off the thief's curls changed as the Earl's head turned to look at him.

"Major, have you never been through a cave-in before?"

"No."

Eroica nodded, as though he'd been expecting the answer. "We can't dig ourselves out from this. We don't have the air for it." The light flipped around the cavern quickly. "We have only 4 and a half hours of good air in here. 5 if we are very lucky. Any extra exertion greatly diminishes that air. And before you suggest digging us out again, several heavy slabs of stone fell in that rockfall, and I highly doubt that even you will be able to move them, Iron Klaus." He walked over to one of the sidewalls of the cave and sat down. "We can only wait for them to find us. It's too detrimental to do anything else."

"How can you be sure?" He wasn't willing to just trust the thief's words, but the Earl was acting uncommonly sober.

"The sounds," he said, not really wanting to waste his breath, literally, on a superfluous explanation.

Klaus looked at the earpiece still in his hand. "Have anything I can use on this?" Eroica reached in behind his back, slightly lifting his hips off the ground in the process and pulled out a small black pack, and handed it and the flashlight to him. The Major took them and walked over to the opposite side of the wall, as far away from Eroica as he could make it.

"How do you know about cave-ins?" The Major asked, opening up the small case to reveal a complete and complex lock picking set.

Dorian opened his eyes and looked at the Major, sitting across from him, stretched out on the ground, bent over the light and the little earpiece. He looked like he could use a cigarette, badly.

"When I was 12 I spent an entire summer spelunking with a friend of my father."

"Spelunking?" Klaus looked up. "I'm not familiar with that word."

"Exploring caves. Part of my mother's effort to masculinize me, I think. There was a cave-in while we were down in one of the deeper caves. I didn't have much of an interest in the caves, really, although some of the techniques have come in very handy in my thefts," he finished off with a small smile.

The Major scowled. "Your life is disgraceful. All these years and that schooling, and yet you still have nothing to show for it."

"I have very few regrets, Major," Dorian replied, piqued. "I doubt you can say the same of yourself. I have chosen to enjoy my life, and make everything out of what I have been given, and what I can take. I can only feel sad for those who do not, and instead spend their wasted lives drifting mindlessly around at the whims of others, choosing to be downtrodden rather than spending their lives happy and loved."

The Major had no response to that.

 

"Okay, what regrets do you have?" Eroica looked up from the blackness of the ground which he'd been staring at to focus on the shadows and streaks of light that made up the Major's face. Several hours had passed, time punctuated only with small curses at first, as Klaus had worked on the little electronic piece. They had managed to contact Bonham for a few moments, barely long enough to tell them what part of the cavern they'd been trapped in, before the battery had died once and for all. No tinkering, no curses, German or English, could get the irritating thing to work anymore. So then they had waited, hoping. He sighed to himself at Klaus' question. Didn't Klaus realize that talking would use up their air more quickly?

"My first time," he said quietly, watching the man across from him carefully, hoping his statement would have the desired effect. It did. The Major's face twisted with a scowl and he looked away, not saying anything. So much for the conversation.

 

It was maybe 20 minutes later when the silence was broken once again. The air in the cave had become warm and moist with their repeated exhalations, and it was quickly becoming thinner as well. Even with the small relaxed breaths he had been taking, Dorian didn't think the air would be good for much longer. Certainly no longer than an hour, and there had been no sounds from the outside yet, where their hopeful rescuers should be coming from. The blackness surrounding them was becoming ever so much more bleaker.

"Why?" Dorian raised his head from where it had been resting on his bent knee. It took a few moments before he could force himself to use the precious air to answer Klaus. He almost didn't, but he wasn't selfish enough, even now, to deny the Major anything.

"Why what?"

"Why was your first time such a regret?" Dorian couldn't believe it. _Klaus, can't you understand that I don't want to talk about this? Especially now, when I might die with it as my last thought?_

"Why do you constantly ask questions whose answers you know will disgust you?" he asked, irritated. The thin, dirty air, the circumstances, were causing him to forget his upbringing. That certainly wouldn't do. Klaus didn't answer, so Dorian decided to answer the question. "I was taken advantage of. I don't especially like the feeling, and so I count it as a regret." The cave was silent again until suddenly,

"You were raped?" Klaus's voice had the beginnings of shock lacing the tones. Dorian shook his head, not looking up, the curls around the crown of his head falling over his moist forehead.

"No, not really."

"What do you mean not really? You either were or weren't."

"Well, then, I wasn't. It was consensual, for the most part," he muttered in return, wishing he'd never brought the subject up. "I wanted something and was promised it in return, Major. It didn't work out the way I had hoped. So while at the time it was consensual, it most definitely would not have been had I known the outcome." Dorian looked up to find himself being stared at strangely by Klaus. What he found more odd was the sincerity in his look when he asked the next question.

"How old were you when this happened?"

"Fourteen," Dorian responded immediately.

"What could you have possibly wanted at that age that you would trade your innocence for it?" _Well, thank you lover, for putting it that way._

"A painting. There was a painting he promised me in return." The Major's eyes widened in the small light, the pale whites becoming more accentuated. Dorian waited for the explosion and epithets to begin, but Klaus surprised him thoroughly once again.

"How could you have let yourself into that position?" There was little censure in Klaus' voice, and it sounded to Dorian as though he was actually interested. He rested his head on his knee, turning his head slightly to avoid a tender spot on his forehead.

"I was young, Klaus. I don't think I really knew what any of it meant, except that the painting was very beautiful and I wanted it. He was a friend of my father's and I trusted him when I should not have. Needless to say I have tried to avoid being taken advantage of so, since. And perhaps you can understand why in my eyes most of your men are 'safe' from me. I prefer those who are more worldly than they," he finished, injecting humor into the last bit.

Klaus snorted. "Caesar Gabriel." Dorian laughed aloud at the derisive tones in the Major's voice.

"Caesar," his voice was fond as he spoke, "as you almost certainly know, is one of those types who is so naive that he will draw the attention of the scum of the world. Those who prey upon young men and boys like him. I had absolutely no _real_ intention of 'corrupting' him, and none whatsoever of harming him. He is too young and too bright and hasn't seen nearly enough of the world. A very dangerous combination for him. I wanted to introduce him to the world safely, rather than have it discover such a vulnerable young man." He paused for a moment. "He _did_ get back to London alright, didn't he?"

"Of course he did. Took you long enough to find out."

"I trusted you to return him safely. Merely took for granted the fact that I knew you would."

"Then why ask stupid questions, you stupid homo?" But it was said without its normal heat, and Dorian laughed quietly.

"To hear you bestow upon me your beautiful monikers, Klaus."

 

Eroica's sudden giggle broke the silence that time. He clapped his hand over his mouth to stop the noise, but it didn't stop it, it just made a loud slapping noise against his skin. And that was yet another reason to giggle.

"How're you laughing?" And Klaus' English was funny too, causing a snicker. Dorian looked at Klaus who was staring at him with a very critical look on his face.

"You're looking so very put out right now," he laughed. "All Germanic prim and properness. So rigid even now." Dorian broke into a fit of giggles which left him half sprawled on the ground, and when he chanced a look at Klaus, he saw the man staring at him as though he were insane.

'''S matter with you?" Dorian's giggles subsided for a moment as he thought about that, and it took a moment longer than it should have for the answer.

"Hypoxia, my love," he answered, nodding, and smiling. "Oh, yes, that was what was so funny. I just didn't realize it."

"No you're sense making."

Dorian giggled again. "And you are making sense, Klaus dearest?" Klaus still didn't have any hint of mirth about him. "Oh, Klaus dear, don't you find it amusing that this is how we are going to die? Trapped in a cave, quickly running out of air. After all your run-ins with the KGB, did you ever think it--" Dorian stopped himself, finding the mental strength to compose himself. Hypoxia. Recite to yourself, Dorian, the effects of hypoxia: headaches, dizziness, euphoria, sweating, poor coordination, impaired judgement. Repeat them again. And again. The chilling thought of how little usable air there must be left in the chamber sobered him rather quickly, and any feeling of safety he'd had vanished.

"Sorry. I'm better now," Dorian felt it necessary to mumble an apology. Klaus made a very quiet noise which _might_ have been a snort, maybe. "Lay down, Klaus, love. Might as well Sleep gracefully." An afterthought occurred to Dorian as he adjusted his head to lay on his arm comfortably. "I bet it's my men who find us."

His voice bled away into the rock, and he heard the shallowness of his breathing, and did the most to even it out as best he could. Well, other than the fact that you could dwell upon your impending death, this was one of the more pleasant ways to go. Maybe he should be thankful for that. And he would get to die with the man he loved, though it would forever be unrequited. How truly Shakespearean romantic, really.

"What do you want to bet?"

"Hmmmm?"

"Bet?"

 _Bet?_ "Oh..." another giggle escaped. "You can buy me dinner, my dearest, if I am right..."

A pause, then: "And if you are wrong?" came the slurred rejoinder.

"Then I promise to turn down the next three missions you don't want me on...

 

Klaus could hear little, his consciousness fading quickly. His brain had the same surging rush of feeling that accompanied major blood loss and shock, the feeling of blackness right before one passed out. Only this time he doubted he would be waking up. The hot sweat that covered his body was now cold and icy on his flesh, and he had the overwhelming desire for a blanket. He fought to remain aware, not wanting to surrender to any fight, least of all this one, against the air itself.

He could faintly hear soft breaths coming from Lord Gloria, but either his hearing was getting weaker, or the breaths were, and at the moment he couldn't tell which. Probably both, he thought, knowing how weak his own body was. He wasn't even certain if Eroica was still conscious, and he couldn't muster any air to make a sound. He hated this! How the fuck could it end like this, starved for air in some nameless cave, with a man he despised not 7 feet from him? He ordered his fingers to claw at the ground, and nothing happened, his body too weak to obey the simplest of commands. _Just fucking move!_ It was the last thought he remembered...

 

 _Noise. Crumble, crumble. Thunk. Crumble, thunk, rattle._

My Lord! Major!

All he would remember later were random fragments of sound, and the overwhelming, incredible rush of air against his skin, a godsend it seemed at the time, the breath of life itself. But one thing stayed with him as he felt the oxygen mask go over his mouth and nose, and the delicious air started flowing:

"My Lord! Lord Gloria, are you still alive? My Loooorrd!" Instinctual fear went through his air starved body when there was no answer. _Oh, no._

And then with the faintest hint of amusement and breathless pleasure came the reply: "Jamsssieee..."

They'd both survived.

 

 _Closing notes: Although the mission was a failure due to events out of the control of the NATO operatives involved, all operatives performed at peak condition. As well, the civilian contractor hired for this mission performed with the highest level of professionalism and duty and is here commended by the mission leader, Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach, for excellence and level-headedness in a situation that went far beyond what the civilian had been contracted to do. It is the opinion of the mission leader that while the contractor can be dangerously nonchalant regarding the importance of NATO missions, the said civilian evinces excellent qualities and strengths under stress, worthy of a NATO contractor._

Major Eberbach read through his report, looking for any mistakes or forgotten details that he needed to add. Finding none, he signed off at the end, and set it in the clean manilla folder sitting in the upper right corner of his now uncluttered desk. The offices were quiet, his men having left for their quiet homes, families and lives over an hour ago.

He took out his finished report and reread the final paragraph once again, surprised to find that he still meant every word he had written. The Earl had had a surprisingly different reaction to the cave-in than Klaus had expected given his previous experience with the outlaw. Not once had Lord Gloria attempted to take advantage of the situation to pursue his perverted dreams as he had in times past, instead finding the cool edge which kept people in the field alive. He'd never once been hysterical, as might be expected of a civilian, settling down to a course of action, or in this case, inaction, that had kept them alive.

Putting the file away for the second time, Klaus debated his next action for the evening. After several minutes he stood and put on his coat, flipping the lights off on his way out and made his way out of the near empty building. His Benz waited for him, and when he got behind the wheel he started the machine and set out for his destination.

 

Lord Gloria had, much to the Major's displeasure, obtained a townhouse in Bonn. More than once Klaus had wondered how he managed to convince that accountant of his to let him keep the German residence, but whatever distasteful wiles he used, they were obviously effective, and had been for years since the date of purchase was several years ago.

So 10 minutes later (yes, it was distressingly close to NATO headquarters) Klaus found himself clacking the sturdy wrought iron knocker and waiting for the door to open. A curtain moved slightly, but the observer couldn't be seen from their position. Seconds later the door opened and one of Eroica's men showed him in, taking his coat for him, then showing him into a living area where several of Eroica's team were gathered around him, either in chairs or on the floor nearby.

Lord Gloria was sitting relaxed contentedly in an overstuffed chair that looked far too comfortable, his head thrown back against the back, and eyes closed as he chuckled at something which had been said, as were the other men in the room. He looked utterly content and happy, sitting there amongst the only people he called his family.

As the Major's presence was noticed, the room became silent, and slowly Eroica's head turned, eyes opening languidly to look as him, the earlier humor still present in them.

"Major! Where's our money! Do you have it?!" Mr. James' voice cut through the quiet sharply. Lord Gloria winced slightly and looked away, eyes slipping closed once more.

Glaring, Klaus looked Mr. James over and then looked away as he said, "Tomorrow."

"What!? We should have it now! Why don't you--"

"Jamesie. Quietly," the Earl said softly. The stingy-bug immediately looked contrite, mumbling his apologies that sounded quite sincere. With a look from the Earl to the others in the room, they started to leave, Bonham, Jones, and a few others Klaus recognized but had no names to match with their faces. "James, why don't you go ahead and re-tally the last month's expenditures. The Major and I apparently have something to discuss." The accountant's vicious mutters could be heard as he left, but at least he had left.

The Earl gestured to a chair across from his own, and as the Major sat, Dorian rose and went over to the bar to pour a shot of Laphroaig which was given to him before the Earl reclaimed his seat.

"Does NATO already have another mission for me? Honestly, if it can't wait for a few days, then I can't take it. I just got home, and need a few days rest before playing again." The Major's brows crinkled.

"Why did you just get in?"

"Oh, the doctors wanted to keep me overnight for observation of my inner ear. They only released me a few hours ago, much to Mr. James' relief, I'm sure." Klaus looked at the Earl irritatedly, and the Earl saw it, responding, "Oh, don't look at me like that, Major dear. No, I didn't forget to mention it in my report. I woke up quite early yesterday morning with a terrible earache, and so I went to have it examined. So I didn't know anything was wrong until after I'd turned in my report."

"What's wrong with it?" Not only did he feel compelled to ask as the mission leader and NATO representative, but he also wanted to know how much damage the Earl had sustained, for the sake of personal curiosity.

Eroica waved his hand by his left ear, gesturing. "Just a small infection from massive amounts of dust and a bit of errant water. Nothing too terrible since it was caught so quickly. But my hearing is important to me, and I don't want to go into a situation without knowing it is perfect. So that is why I won't be joining you on the next mission."

"I'm not here for another mission..." He stopped, not knowing how to say why he was here. Eroica sat up straighter.

"Then... why are you here, Major?" The Major lowered his eyes, trying to control the modicum of embarrassment he felt over the situation.

"My men reported that it was your men who found us. So it seems that I owe you a dinner." Eroica looked nonplussed for an instant, recovering quickly though, Klaus had to give him credit.

"Major, dear, while I am certainly not against having dinner with you, and I do realize I should not be saying this, I feel it necessary to point out that I meant they would find us after we were dead."

"We nearly were," Klaus replied seriously. Eroica shrugged off the statement carelessly, seemingly unaffected by their very, _very_ close brush with death, on what should have been a simple mission. The Earl picked up a glass of clear liquid which sat on a carved end-table next to him, and took a small sip. Klaus watched as the other man looked him over, observing him. He had yet to swallow the water or put down the glass from where it hovered in the air by his head, so caught up in his revery, he was. It was unsettling for Klaus, who had never before been subjected to such an intense examination by the Earl before. In some ways he wouldn't have thought the Earl to be capable of the thought which he could see behind the blue eyes. Finally he spoke.

"Major, why are you dwelling on this? It is wholly unlike you. Is it because you and I nearly died?"

"It is because _you_ nearly died. As a civilian you should never have been put by NATO into that situation. For that I apologize."

Eroica nodded, and some of his unruly curls fell into his forehead with all the grace of a bull in a china shoppe, and yet as they framed his face in a most endearing way, they gave him the appearance of a perennial youngster.

"I see. So the dinner is more as an apology than because I won any bet." Dorian shook his head. "It isn't necessary. I know the dangers involved with NATO business." Seeing Klaus' disbelieving look, he modified the statement somewhat. "For the good part. Lives are most usually on the line. Fortunately most times it isn't _mine_. Of course, what fun is life without the hint of danger? It gives the nights such a romance to them."

Klaus was on the verge of speaking, of opening his mouth to yell at what a stupid thing that was to say, how dangerous it was to believe and act upon, and how Eroica was nothing but an effeminate man with a naive view on life. He was only two breaths away from tearing Eroica to shreds, when he stopped and thought about everything in the larger perspective, rather than simply on the few words the Earl had spoken just now.

Dorian had seen more in his time with NATO than most people did in their entire lives. He had already held that position from his career as a thief, if his guest list for parties was anything to go by. Eroica had tangled more times with the KGB than many NATO operatives, and come out relatively unscathed, seen by all involved as a child who could be annoying at times, yet was no threat. An innocent who kept mixing with the wrong crowd, NATO and the KGB included.

But how innocent was Lord Gloria, really? How innocent could a man be who had faced down one of the most dangerous KGB agents with a gun he'd thought was unloaded, who had a mafia boss in his back pocket, who played international tag with ICPO and had a sworn enemy in an Arab oil sheik? Eroica had a mean streak. Klaus had seen it only a few times, and it rarely showed, but when it did, Eroica could be vicious, and completely cunning in his viciousness. Memory of an idiotic Italian policeman being framed for the abduction of the pope simply because he had annoyed Eroica flashed through his mind.

Klaus stared at the man who was still talking, his lively, aloof manner back in place.

"Of course, this doesn't mean I'm going to let you out of buying me dinner. You did offer, and it would be rude not to accept. Major, are you alright?" He realized he was staring a bit too heavily at the thief, his mind still a bit slow with the new picture he was developing of Eroica. He'd spent so many years thinking of the pervert as shallow and childish...

"I'm fine. Do you have anyplace in particular you would like to eat at?"

"Oh, I am positively certain that we can find a place we'll both enjoy and have a wonderful evening together." Eroica stood and walked towards the doorway of the room, and for the first time Klaus took in his outfit: very tightly jean-clad legs and a looser shirt of some fluffy material with three-quarter sleeves. Emblazoned on the front over the heart was tiny, but perfect, Roman lettering spelling out "Eroica".

"Are you really going to wear that shirt in public?" Lord Gloria paused for a moment before throwing out one of his wide-eyed innocent looks that were seeped in anything but innocence.

"For you, Major, I would be more than willing to take off this shirt." And not replace it with anything, Klaus was sure. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and refused to get mad.

"Leave it," he muttered, and walked past Eroica. One of the Earl's staff handed Klaus his greatcoat, and then passed a ridiculously colorful jacket to Eroica, and then his own greatcoat, which he shrugged on elegantly. He turned to Klaus and waited for him to lead the way out the door to the promised dinner. Klaus sighed to himself, thinking about all the things he could be doing rather than this. And still, this seemed to be the most important thing, that he should be right here getting ready to take the Earl to a dinner that was not necessary. Sighing to himself again, he decided to think about it later, praying that Eroica wouldn't be too flamboyant tonight. He walked to the door being held open by Eroica's butler and stepped outside.

"Spelunking?" he asked, looking at the man who's life had become too twisted up in his. Dorian tossed his head of rambunctious curls back and laughed.

"Yes..."


End file.
